Controversy erupted on April 11, 2014, when Barrett told a Senate Armed Services Committee panel that Marines should be paid less. According to Barrett, "I truly believe it will raise discipline. You'll have better spending habits. You won't be so wasteful." Barrett argued that overly high pay and benefits will transform the Marines into an organization of entitlement, rather than a war-fighting organization.[4]

Barrrett issued a letter to all Marines to explain his congressional testimony, "Recent reporting of my testimony may have left you with a mistaken impression that I don't care about your quality of life and that I support lower pay for service members. This is not true," Barrett wrote in the letter. However, he maintained that the growth in pay and benefits must be slowed down in order to ensure the Corps can pay for better equipment.[1]

He's not only a trained scout sniper, but also a graduate of the Army Ranger School who earned two Bronze Stars with "V" device while serving in Iraq as sergeant major of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.